I was doing better for a while, but then newsletter time got in the way of my blogging. However, the newsletters are in the mail now, and here I am.

Two stories have claimed a lot of news time since I was last here: one of which was about the lady astronaut who drove a million miles to try to kill a rival for some dude's attention. She has managed to set women astronauts back to Medieval times, huh? And I had those thoughts even before I saw all the political cartoons of astronauts holding rolling pins and women wearing diapers for anything requiring time.

The other news story ~ about Anna Nicole Smith ~ just leaves me shaking my head. With so many *important* news stories going on right now, the world waits with bated breath to find out who fathered that poor baby girl. I'm just as guilty as the next guy ~ but, in my defense, when I watched her biography on The Biography Channel, it was as much to see scenes of her hometown, Mexia, TX, as to know more about her. My baby sister lives in Mexia now ~ and today is her 51st birthday ~ so *HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SISTER!* :)

When I called Sister to wish her happy birthday, we got to talking about Mama ~ as we usually do. We both miss her desperately. Tonight I am listening to my iTunes, which include a few songs by Tom Jones. Mama was a *huge* Tom Jones fan, and we journeyed to Owensboro, KY, once to see him perform at some hotel. My staid accountant mama, who was already slowed by emphysema, managed to maneuver close to the stage and then to *jump* onto the stage ~ striding across the stage as if she belonged there ~ to kiss the man. I have pictures of her walking and then of her being led away by security guards. She started a stampede of little gray ladies, and Tom had to be hustled away by guards ~ but it was the end of the concert anyway. :) My mama was heroine to those little gray ladies, many of whom stopped by our table at breakfast the next morning to talk to her about the experience. And what did my proper mama have to say to them? *If I had thought about it, I would have felt to see if he's real!* :))) What was probably just another day at work for him made lasting memories for my beloved mama and me! :)

Not too long ago, I was extolling the virtues of a mild winter and remarking that cherry blossoms were fooled enough to be blooming in DC. As the kids would say, *My bad!* I must have stirred up the gremlins of winter, for Jack Frost has us firmly in his grip now with no relief in site. When thirty-one degrees looks tropical to you, you know it's been too darn cold. Therefore, in hopes of tipping the weather scales back the other direction, instead of posting a winter scene, I am posting a picture of cherry blossoms. Hey, Mother Nature! Don't you know that spring training starts in a couple of weeks???? :)